ManualMaster and its sister company Certifeye, an online certificate management platform, are investing heavily in the exchange of information between business systems via API technology. Connecting applications via API saves time and money, which is the key to digitising the supply chain.
Not surprisingly, the relationship between ManualMaster and Certifeye is becoming closer every day. Fred Vahlkamp of ManualMaster underlined this once again during our online HaringParty, the annual knowledge event. At this event, 80 professionals from the quality world gathered to exchange knowledge and experience.
The chain of custody is becoming increasingly important
Fred: “At ManualMaster, we see more and more organisations sharing information. It takes time and attention to make this happen. Particularly in the food and flower industry, questions are being asked such as: how do we deal with our suppliers and the suppliers of these suppliers. The chain of custody is becoming increasingly important.”
“For its own quality assurance, a flower exporter needs to know who grew the tulips it wants to sell and under what conditions. Are these conditions certified? It must be determined whether the supply chain is capable of meeting the requirements for supplying or exporting itself.”
“Practice shows that everyone has slightly different specific requirements. If you are exporting vegetables to Germany or Japan the schedule of requirements may differ. This requires coordination, alignment, comparison and the requesting and sharing of information. The latter is what we see our customers doing more and more. Processing and assessing lab analyses is a good example of this.”
Building customer portals with ManualMaster
“ManualMaster is increasingly being used to build customer portals, where customers can login to access relevant information. An ideal means of communication. Not only about a delivered product or batch but also about other issues that may be relevant to report. In addition to a professional appearance towards customers, it saves a lot of time and prevents a flood of e-mails.”
In the specially equipped Zoom Supply Chain Management breakout room, participants of the online HaringParty highlighted the need for further links and applications and the usefulness of exchanging information with customers and suppliers.
Information exchange via API technology
Fred: “ManualMaster and Certifeye focus extensively on information exchange via API technology, where different systems exchange information with each other.”
Certifeye is a tool that makes it possible to request certificates needed in the supply chain from suppliers. At the moment, we focus mainly on the food and flower industry and pharmaceutical companies. Fred: “API securely transfers data from one system to another. Both ManualMaster and Certifeye have this technology. Recently, the development team has been expanded to include people with specialised knowledge in the field of API. These specialists can translate functional requirements into the technical application. This is very important for the successful implementation of a link with an ERP, such as SAP.”
“We are investing heavily in making communication between companies and their chain partners possible: by making documentation available (ManualMaster) and enabling the completion of forms and questionnaires and the retrieval of information and certificates from suppliers (Certifeye). This creates new opportunities for companies and added value for customers and suppliers.”
by Ad Killian
